Next on the list…
The First Casualty by Ben Elton
444 pages
Genre Fiction (Historical Drama)
Wednesday 20th November – Saturday 7th December (18 days)
8 morning, 4 afternoon, 6 evening.
I wasn’t overly impressed with the last Ben Elton book I read (Blind Faith) so I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this, which is a shame as I used to really like Ben Elton books. My faith has been restored.
This book is brilliant, poignant, funny, sad, a very good read. The book is set in the First World War, and we follow a Police Inspector – Kingsley – who refuses to go to war due to it not being logical. He is asked to investigate a murder in a military hospital of Viscount Abercrombie, which ends up taking him to the front and into the middle of battle.
It’s a very good read, funny, well written and well developed characters. It’s sad in places, describes the horrors of war both on the front line and in the military hospitals. The book touches on the themes of feminism and suffragettes, the logic and morality of war, and the politics of the time. Kingsley is perfectly offset by Captain Shannon, a misogynistic arrogant sadist, who treats women like objects. He is complimented by the fantastic Nurse Murray, who I loved, a feminist Suffragette who works in the military hospital and takes a liking to Kingsley. I enjoyed reading these characters, I thought the story was good, and whilst I am no expert on the historical side, I thought it conveyed the time period very well.
Next book: The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder
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